“Interim plan feedback Devon Plymouth and Torbay”

The Labour Government Feedback on interim devolution plans provides much needed clarity, or maybe not. Does this reflect chaos in Whitehall?

Owl has now seen a copy of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Governments’ “interim plan feedback Devon Plymouth and Torbay” of 15 May and consulted “Sir Humphrey Appleby” (now retired from Yes Minister) on what it all might mean.

First of all he pointed to the significance of the omission of Exeter in the title.

Exeter, he said, had submitted its own plan to become the stand alone “Greater Exeter Unitary Authority” by absorbing parts of neighbouring districts. Exeter City Council was also one of the addressees of the feedback which claims to respond to a list of submissions including one from Exeter.

This omission speaks volumes, he said.

Sir Humphrey also saw significance in the lack of confirmation of Plymouth’s position in this Whitehall reply to a direct question from the district councils:

“You asked for Government to confirm that Plymouth City Council would be a continuing authority in relation to your preferred option. You should set out in your final proposal how implementation would work and the assumptions underpinning this. Decision on the appropriate implementation and transition arrangements will be considered following final decisions on the proposal to be Implemented.”

Although Sir Humphrey then draw attention to the “overview” section of the feedback which contained the following committed noncommittal caveat:

“We welcome the work that has been undertaken across proposals to develop local government reorganisation plans for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay. This feedback does not seek to approve or discount any option or proposal, but provide some feedback designed to assist in the development of final proposal(s).” 

Could Plymouth become the economic powerhouse in the Devon West half of a two unitary solution?

Read between the lines Councillors and “Carry on up at County Hall”.

Cornwall likely to be led by LidDem/Independent coalition – Owl

Lee Trewhela www.cornwalllive.com

The likely new leader of Cornwall Council has slammed Reform UK for claiming other political groups on the council have been playing “political games” to stop the party forming an administration. In fact, says Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Leigh Frost, Reform refused a possible “pathway to power”.

Earlier today, Reform’s Cornwall group leader Cllr Rob Parsonage announced that the party would not be forming an administration despite winning the largest amount of seats on the council. Reform will have 28 councillors sitting in Lys Kernow / County Hall in Truro, but needed 44 to form a majority administration. The Lib Dems won 26 and Independents 16.

Mr Parsonage said other political groups had been playing “political football” and claimed that despite Reform’s best efforts, the Liberal Democrats, Labour and some Independents had refused to work with them. However, the leader of the Independents has responded that his group was willing to form an administration with Reform, but was rebuffed.

The Independent group has now joined forces with the Liberal Democrats to form the next administration. Cllr Frost, of the Lib Dems, told CornwallLive: “As I said after the election, we decided to give Reform the first bite of the cherry when it came to forming an administration as they were the biggest group on the council. They refused to take that bite.

“The Independent group reached out to them and gave them a deadline of last Wednesday to come back with an offer. No offer came back from Reform. Following that, on Friday, the Independent group agreed to form an alliance with the Lib Dems to lead the council.”

Cllr Frost added: “There are a lot of serious issues which the new council will have to consider, such as devolution and the Cornwall Local Plan. We’ve got to have an administration which can tackle such important matters, that’s why we talked to the Independents after Reform didn’t.

“Reform are accusing others of playing political games but an alliance with the Independent group could have given them a pathway to power.”

Cllr Adam Paynter, leader of the Independents, verified that he spoke to Reform’s Cllr Parsonage about a possible administration deal, but “from our point of view it didn’t appear as if Reform had any intention or had anything to offer us”.

He said: “As Independent group leader, I had a mandate after the election to speak to all the other groups about forming an administration. We could then collate what their thinking was and bring it back to the Independent group so we could then think about what we wanted to do as the third largest group on the council.

“We spoke to Rob Parsonage from Reform twice. We heard what he wanted to achieve and we asked what he could offer us. This was the Thursday after election. He said he would come back with an offer on Wednesday (May 14) six days later. We spoke to all all group leaders by the end of that election week.”

Cllr Paynter added: “We waited until Wednesday to see what the Reform offer was and there was nothing at all. We spoke to him on the phone and asked him what he was planning to do and he said he was speaking to other groups but hadn’t got any offer to make the Independents.

“Clearly they didn’t want to work with us, otherwise you would have thought they would have tried a bit harder to pull together some sort of offer to form an administration. The only offer we had was from the Liberal Democrats, so we did a bit more work with them, and on Friday night we agreed to move forward as an administration.”

Mr Parsonage responded to the comments by Cllrs Frost and Paynter. He said: “We spoke to the Independents on two occasions to outline our position and what we wished to achieve, as we have done with the other parties. In the second conversation Adam asked what we would be offering to the Independents but we weren’t able to commit to any offer.”

The council’s new leader, chair and vice-chair will be officially announced at the first meeting of Cornwall Council since the election tomorrow (Tuesday, May 20).

Cllr Paul Hayward www.midweekherald.co.uk 

I am writing to express my heartfelt gratitude to the voters of our Axminster community following the election on May 1.

Your support and confidence in my candidacy meant the world to me.

But, this victory is not mine alone—it belongs to every volunteer, supporter, and resident who believed in the possibility of positive change – the power of people over politics.

I also want to thank my fellow candidates for a mostly calm, respectful, and spirited campaign.

Healthy democratic dialogue only strengthens our community.

We can still work together in the best interests of everyone in our area – regardless of the colour of rosette we wore!

Now, the real work begins.

Devon is facing a tumultuous future.

I remain committed to listening, collaborating, and making decisions that reflect the needs and hopes of all constituents.

Together, we can build a future rooted in transparency, progress, accountability, leadership, and shared values.

Thank you once again for your trust.

I am honoured to serve and excited to get started.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Paul Hayward Devon County Council – Axminster Division.